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Demons lack thunder at the ThunderBowl

DHS football season begins with a whimper against California school in Pueblo

The Durango Demons were stuck in neutral in the first game of the season.

Durango High School opened its football season with a game against Beckman High School of Irvine, California. The game, which was played at Colorado State University-Pueblo’s ThunderBowl, saw both teams struggle with offense, but a safety and a touchdown gave the Beckman Patriots an 8-0 victory.

It was a tough game offensively for the Demons, who were held to 59 yards of total offense while only accumulating four first downs.

“We just couldn’t get started, didn’t make third downs when we needed to,” DHS head coach David Vogt said in a phone interview with The Durango Herald while driving back to the Western Slope.

The game was scoreless coming out of halftime, and the Demons (0-1) received the ball first. DHS picked up one first down, but an Adrian Morrow interception thrown by senior quarterback Hayden Sill set Beckman (1-0) up for the only touchdown of the game.

The Patriots mounted an eight-play, 39-yard drive built entirely on rushing plays. Morrow, Beckman’s junior running back, capped the drive with a rushing touchdown, as the Patriots faced 4th-and-goal from the 4-yard line. The extra point was no good, giving Beckman a 6-0 lead with 6 minutes, 19 seconds remaining in the third quarter.

Durango went three-and-out on its next possession, and a long snap sailed over punter Casey Dunlap’s head and through the back of the endzone for a safety.

It was the second snap over the head of Dunlap in the game, but Dunlap was able to scoop the first loose ball up and get a punt away from his own 3-yard line.

The DHS Demons had two opportunities deep inside Beckman territory late in the fourth quarter, but they turned the ball over on downs both time after failing to get a first down.

Winds swirled inside the stadium as a storm front approached Pueblo, and that made it difficult for the Demons to do anything through the air.

“We couldn’t go shotgun, and it was really hard to throw the ball,” Vogt said.

Sill finished the game 7-for-15 passing for 38 yards and one interception.

DHS junior quarterback Terrence Trujillo checked into the game for the Demons’ final possession, but he was sacked twice without getting a pass attempt away.

Durango was limited to just 39 rushing yards in the game as Beckman’s defensive line wreaked havoc on the Demons’ offensive front.

“Their line was really good, very disciplined,” Vogt said of the Patriots’ defensive front four.

The one bright spot for DHS was the play of its defense. The Demons limited Beckman to 112 yards rushing on 36 carries. Laitham Johnson, a junior, also came up with a fumble recovery, and the Demons sacked opposing quarterback JT Manber three times in the first half, including one by Diego Arias.

“It is our backbone. We are going to play with a defensive mind frame,” Vogt said.

Manber finished the game 10-for-23 passing for 83 yards.

The game was organized by KSA Events, a company that helps schools set up out-of-state games. Durango was a late fill-in for another school and was happy to volunteer its home game to gain experience playing a California school. KSA selected CSU-Pueblo as the venue to allow both teams a travel experience and the chance to play in a facility they otherwise wouldn’t have the opportunity to play in.

Vogt and the players enjoyed the experience, but Vogt said he won’t schedule a non-league game that far away again if asked.

“The competition was great,” Vogt said. “We will not travel that far again unless we have to, though. It takes a lot out of you to ride on a bus for six hours.”

The Demons will look to bounce back with a road contest next Friday at Aztec in New Mexico. The Aztec Tigers opened their 2014 campaign with a 20-0 win at Bloomfield, New Mexico on Friday night.

“We just have to get back to the basics of football,” Vogt said when asked how the team will bounce back next Friday at Aztec. “We have to work on blocking and tackling and giving total effort every play.”

jlivingston@durangoherald.com

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